Prose

One of the most popular and bestselling Czech writers, Petr Šabach (1951), graduated in cultural studies at Charles University in Prague, then took various jobs and is now teaching creative writing. Thanks to the strong autobiographical element and the writer’s ability to capture everyday life in the period up until 1989, several films were created on the basis of his books such as Šakalí léta (1993) or Pelíšky (1999). The main protagonist of the novella Butterside Down is a divorced sexagenarian Arnošt who sells the contents of his library to a second-hand bookshop in a house that belongs to his friend Evžen who admires everything that’s American. It is just after 11 September 2001. In a pub called Ticho (Silence), these two discuss the present and the future of the world and their roles in it, philosophy and women, and also talk about illnesses. They are trying to find a solution, not just metaphorically but technically, so that a slice of bread does not fall on the buttered side. Mainly, however, they have to come to terms with getting old… Maybe things will work out.